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Lamar fires basketball coach Pat Knight

Star news services
4:03 p.m. MST February 16, 2014

Texas Tech head coach Pat Knight yells to his team as they play Washington during an NCAA college basketball game Dec. 3, 2009 in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Geoffrey McAllister)(Photo: Geoffrey McAllister / AP)

BEAUMONT, Texas — Lamar has fired coach Pat Knight, son of Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight, with the Cardinals having won just six games the past two seasons.

Athletic director Jason Henderson announced the move Sunday. Lamar is 3-22 and 2-11 in the Southland Conference this season.

Knight was 29-62 overall during his three seasons with Lamar. He guided the Cardinals to the NCAA tournament and a 23-12 record in his first season, closing the regular season with six straight victories and winning the Southland tournament title. The strong finish came after Knight called out his players in postgame rant reminiscent of his famous father, the former Indiana and Texas Tech coach.

Lamar is 6-50 the past two seasons.

Former assistant Tic Price will serve as the interim coach.

His team faced Northwestern State on Saturday and lost 87-67. Knight's Lamar team was averaging 65.7 points per game this season which ranks 300th in the nation.

Knight spoke with ESPN about his firing.

"I've been around this business. We just didn't win. The bottom line is we didn't win.''

"As his son, and as a former player, I'm not telling him not to go," Pat says. "You saw the reaction he got when he went back to Ohio State (in 2011)? I told him he'd get that reaction times 100 if he went back to Indiana.

"I've tried, man, I've tried. Me and (former IU players) Scott May and Quinn Buckner, we've tried. We're working on it. But the guy just doesn't budge. It's really not a big deal to him. He's always done it his way, and right now, he's pretty content just hunting and fishing."

Pat also discussed how hard it was growing up in Indiana as the son of a legend.

"You want to know what's hard? What's hard is trying to play high school basketball in the state of Indiana when Bob Knight is your dad."

When Pat talked to ESPN about his firing he noted that he spoke with his father Sunday and said it was hard on him.